Episode 1
Sirius Black slung his arm around James Potter’s shoulders, “I heard your restaurant moved, James. When's the grand reopening?” The two were walking home after school.
“We’re not having one.” James replied, taking his phone out of his pocket, receiving a notification.
“What! Why?” Sirius exclaimed, stopping behind James.
“Why are they using my name? I told them to change it.” James muttered, looking at the pictures his mum sent him of the restaurant sign.
Sirius caught up to James again, “I thought you were having one!”
James shook his head, “No, the fryer hasn’t even come in yet.”
mum: which one do you like!
james: don’t use my name mum pleaseee
“I thought it had…” Sirius mumbled.
“I’d know better than you don’t you think?”
mum: okay so which one?
james: mum take my name out
Peter Pettigrew ran up to James, Remus Lupin next to him, and shoved his arm, causing him to drop his phone. “Oi!” James exclaimed, scrambling to pick it up.
“You can’t run away.” Peter said, “Let's go have tacos!”
“It hasn’t even opened yet!”
“Yes it has, Effie said she’s testing out a new recipe today.” Peter said, Sirius slapped James arm, giving him an offended look. “You’re going too, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am!” Sirius answered.
“Are you coming too?” James asked Remus.
Remus nodded once, “Sure. Your mum told Peter to bring friends.”
“Is this like a double date then?” Sirius smirked at Remus.
Peter frowned, “What are you on?” He said before walking off with Remus, in the direction of the restaurant.
“What is going on? We’re not opening today?” James mumbled to himself in confusion.
“Oh what do you know, let’s go, Jamie.” Sirius teased before walking off, whistling the tune he, Peter and James heard in their favourite TV show as kids. James caught up to Remus and Peter, shoving Sirius as he passed him.
* * *
Euphemia Potter brought over two plates of tacos, Sirius, Remus and Peter cheering as she did.
“Thank you!” chorused Sirius and Peter, as Remus added, “It looks so good.” All of them immediately dug in.
“Why is there so much?” James asked.
Effie smiled, “Well, Peter eats a lot.”
“I don’t eat a lot, I eat well.” Peter corrected, his mouth stuffed with food.
“That’s what I like best.” She nodded, “Eat up, Sirius.”
“Yes ma’am!”
“You too, Remul.”
“Oh, my name’s Remus, not Remul.” Remus corrected.
“Did you change your name?” Effie asked, causing Remus to laugh.
“Mum. Don’t change someone else’s name. Change the restaurant’s name.” James said. “Why’re you using my name?”
“It was called that before you were born.”
“Exactly, you named me after the restaurant. I don’t like-“
“Shush!” Sirius interrupted, he turned to Effie, “I like it, it has authenticity.”
“Right?” Effie grinned.
“Of course!”
“He’s right.” Peter and Remus said together.
Effie smiled at all of them as James slouched his chair sulking, “Alright, so this is a new recipe we just came up with.” She pointed to the first plate, “This one isn’t spicy,” She pointed to the second plate, “While this one is. What do we think?”
“It’s super-crazy-mad good!” Sirius said. “It’s delicious.”
“Really?”
“Yes! Effie, if you ever need a delivery boy, I’ll do it for cheap.”
“No, no. You kids need to study.” She turned to Peter, “What do you think?"
“It’s a little salty.” Peter shrugged.
Effie scratched the side of her head, “Oh… What about this one? Is it too spicy?” She asked, pointing to the second plate.
Peter shook his head, “No, just salty.”
“Why is it salty?... That’s not good.” She mumbled, “Monty!”
“Yeah?!” A distant voice called from the kitchen.
“He said it’s salty.” Effie said, walking towards the kitchen.
“It’s salty?” Fleamont Potter, James' dad, asked.
Effie nodded, “Peter says it’s salty.”
“Why?” He said before their voices were drowned out.
Remus frowned at Peter, taking another bite, “It’s good.”
“Stop eating it if it’s salty.” James told Peter.
Peter shrugged, “It still tastes good.”
“Oi, have you lot heard about the science teacher?” Remus asked.
“What about him?” James asked in return.
“People are saying he smells like a rotting corpse.”
“Gosh Remus! Just some silly rumour Bellatrix started.” Peter said, rolling his eyes.
“It’s true!” Sirius agreed. “He didn’t come to school for a few days after his son went missing. Then when he came into class, he smelled like a rotting corpse.”
“How would she know what that smells like?” James countered, “Has she smelled one before?”
“She knows every smell but that one, since she’s never smelled it before. It has to be that. He’s become weird ever since his son went missing.”
“Bella’s insane.” Peter muttered.
“His son was always bullied really badly.” Remus said.
Sirius nodded, “Yeah, I feel sorry for him. The science teacher too. Remember last week when he randomly left during class? He was writing on the board like crazy, muttering something and then just... stormed out. He’s never done that before.”
“They say he was a genius,” Remus said, “And geniuses often go crazy.”
“Well then… I guess you never have to worry about going crazy.” James said to Peter, grinning slyly. Sirius bursted into laughter and Remus pursed his lips in an effort not to laugh.
After dinner ended, Peter and James walked home, arms around each other's shoulders as Remus and Sirius strolled slowly behind them. “Sirius?”
“Yeah?” Sirius said.
“Do you think I’d suit a piercing?”
Sirius stopped and turned to face Remus, who was looking at an earring shop nearby. “I want to get one of my ears pierced but I'm not sure which one.”
“Oh.” It felt like his mouth had gone dry.
Remus smiled at him, “Do you reckon I’ve got a good side?” He asked, turning his face from left to right slowly.
Sirius’ eyes widened before he frowned, “What are you asking me for?” He mumbled, walking off.
* * *
“Exams start next week, right?” Harold Evans asked his daughter.
“You always bring up tests when I’m eating.” Lily Evans muttered.
Howard sat down opposite Lily at the table for breakfast, “When else should I ask? I just want to tell you not to stress about them, yeah? You never get good grades anyway.”
Lily frowned at him, “Yes I do! All the time!”
“Don't lie to your old dad.” Harold waved his hand, “It doesn’t matter, I’m just saying grades aren’t important, your health and safety are. In an accident, they don’t care how smart you are.”
“I am smart! I bet anything I'm getting an A.”
“Don’t stress yourself out.” Harold said, taking another bite of his food. They heard a knock at the door and Lily glanced at the clock.
“That’s Remus!” She said, she put one more bite of food into her mouth before getting up to leave.
“Eat more food, Lils! You’ve left the whole thing.” Harold tried to tell Lily to no avail as she left, closing the door behind her.
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” Remus and Lily said together.
Both rock.
Both scissors.
Both rock.
Remus scissors, Lily paper.
“Yes!” Remus cheered, Lily quickly walked off while he was distracted. “I’m literally going to kill you.” Remus called after her before she began running, him chasing after her. “Lily! Lily Evans!”
Lily ran into the elevator and closed it before Remus could get in. Remus sighed before running down the stairs, meeting up with Lily again as the doors opened downstairs. “Play fair, Evans.” Remus breathed out, trying to catch his breath. “Carry it.” Remus said, holding his backpack out.
Lily held up her finger which had a bandage on it, “Look, I cut my finger making breakfast.” Remus raised an eyebrow at her before hooking his backpack around her finger and walking off, Lily frowning after him.
“Let’s go Evans, off to school!”
Remus and Lily had to run most of the way to school, late as they were, the streets filled with hundreds of other students also running, hoping they wouldn’t be late. Lily picked up her pace and ran into the school making it in time before the teacher stopped Remus, who hadn't made it just in time.
Lily grinned at him before handing him his backpack off and skipping off towards class. Remus rolled his eyes and wrote his name down for being late, this was already the fourth time this month, one more and he'd be getting a detention. As he began walking to class, he saw Sirius. “Sirius!” He called out.
Sirius stopped and looked at who had called his name, “Oh Remus, morning.” He said quickly before walking off, into the school. Remus frowned, following after him and stopping him on the way up the stairs. “What?” Sirius asked.
“Are you busy after school today?” Remus asked.
“Why?”
“Meet me by the gate?” Remus asked, not waiting for a reply as turned to continue up the stairs, leaving Sirius there confused. Remus walked into the classroom and flipped Lily off before taking his seat.
Sirius walked into the classroom and walked over to James, throwing an arm around his shoulder. Him and some others were gathered around a desk, talking loudly. “Hey!” Bellatrix Black’s loud voice called out, causing the class to go quiet. Frank Longbottom and Peter were both sitting on the table and Frank flinched away upon seeing Bellatrix walk right towards them. “Get off my table! You’re disgusting!” She yelled at Peter.
“Fine. My bad.” Peter muttered. “What’s the big deal?” He asked, wiping off the desk with his sleeve.
“Stop that! You’re dirty!” She grabbed her bag off the desk and hit his arm.
“What the hell.” Peter said angrily.
James wrapped an arm around him to hold him back, “Let it go, Black. What are you so grumpy for?”
Sirius sneered at Bellatrx before him and James took their seats and Peter came to sit next to Remus. Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom, “Come on, everyone. Take your seats.” Anyone still standing quickly scrambled to their own tables. “Good morning, everyone.”
“Good morning.” The class chanted back.
McGonagall took out the phone box and everyone stood to take turns placing their phones in it. “Has anyone talked to Emmeline Vance recently?” She asked the class. “Nobody? No one’s tried calling her?”
“We cleaned the science lab together yesterday after school but I haven’t seen her since.” Frank said.
“Okay…” She said thoughtfully, “If anyone hears from her, let me know right away, yes?”
“Yes ma’am.” The class said together.
“Exams start next week, so get your act together…” She began. Halfway into class, there was a sudden banging at the door and Emmeline walked into class, face covered in blood.
“Vance!” McGonagall called out as she collapsed to the floor, causing everyone to crowd around her. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Professor…” Emmeline muttered.
“Yes, it’s me.” The panic and fear was clear on McGonagall’s face, “Do you recognise me?”
“He grabbed me… Professor Slughorn grabbed me and locked me up.”
“The science teacher?” She asked as the class erupted into whispers and gasps.
“He tied me up…” Emmeline said weakly.
McGonagall started to lift Emmeline up, “Let’s go to the hospital wing. Come on Emmeline, can you get up?”
“I’ll carry her.” Sirius offered.
“Okay.” McGonagall nodded, “Someone help him.”
“I’ll help.” Lily said.
“Me too.” Mary McDonald added. The two helped Emmeline balance onto Sirius' back.
“Go back to your seats, everyone stay quiet while I'm gone. Regulus, you’re in charge.” McGonagall called out before running out of the classroom with Sirius, Mary and Lily. The whole time Sirius was running, Emmeline was writhing around on his back, nearly falling off.
“Put her on the bed!” She said as they burst into the infirmary, “Please take a look at her, Poppy.” Madam Pomfrey immediately got up and came over to take her temperature.
“Her temperature is way too low,” She mumbled, the thermometer reading 29°. “Hold this down on her so she doesn’t kick it off.” She said to Lily and Mary, pulling the blanket out from under the bed.
Emmeline was twisting and turning, her bones cracking. “Emmeline! It’s okay!” McGonagall tried to comfort her, fear still laced through her voice.
“Please call an ambulance.” Pomfrey said to her. “I’ll sedate her and clean her wounds.” Emmeline’s eyes were completely bloodshot and she was desperately trying to bite everyone around her.
“I’m hot.” Emmeline growled lowly, “It’s too hot.”
“Your temperature is too low,” McGonagall comforted, “Just hang in there, you’ll be at the hospital soon.”
“He gave me a weird shot.” She said, “He tried to kill me.” Mary, Lily and Sirius all exchanged worried looks.
“A shot? Slughorn tried to give you a shot?” McGonagall asked.
“I’m gonna kill them!” Emmeline shouted before getting up, growling and biting at both Mary and Sirius who took steps back in fear.
“Hold her down so I can give her a shot!” Pomfrey yelled as she came back with an injection.
* * *
“It’s scary. Emmeline was acting so odd.” Andromeda Black said.
“Absolutely.” Bellatrix agreed.
“It’s weird to everyone else too, right?”
“It’s strange that she was gone all day, and then came back bloody, muttering nonsense about the science teacher.” Alice Fortescue answered. People in the class were now broken off into groups, all talking to each other about their own theories of what happened.
“Maybe she went somewhere and got hurt, and then came back here.” Andromeda said.
Bellatrix sighed frustratedly, “It must be true then.”
“What is? Did you hear something?” Andromeda asked.
“You know how they say his son ran away from home?” Andromeda and Alice both nodded, “I heard that wasn’t the case. He committed suicide.”
“Don’t be stupid!” Andromeda cried out.
“He committed suicide?” Alice asked.
Andromeda frowned at her, “You believe this?”
“I’m telling you it’s true. Emmeline hung out with them and bullied him a lot. So the science teacher is going after everyone who bullied his son one by one. To kill them.” Bellatrix whispered the last sentence.
“Who has been saying that?” Andromeda deadpanned.
“Everyone!”
“Who!”
The guys were huddled up together at one desk on the other side of the classroom, “I did see Emmeline last in the science lab.” Frank said.
“Hey…” Barty Crouch said, drawing everyone’s attention, “I think the science teacher made Emmeline film porn.”
Everyone let out a sigh and Evan Rosier slapped the back of his head. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Crouch.”
“Hey! Ow!” Barty rubbed the spot on his arm where Evan had just slapped him, “Why are you hitting me?!”
“Because you’re a pervert.” He said.
Remus was zoned out of the conversation, staring at Sirius’ empty desk.
“What! Why else would he kidnap her? Have you ever been kidnapped?”
“What?” Evan frowned, “Of course not!”
“This is no way to talk to your boyfriend.”
“Keep dreaming.” Evan rolled his eyes, suppressing a smile. Mary walked back into the classroom, everyone immediately crowding around her as she sat down at her desk.
“Where’s Emmeline?” Andromeda asked, taking the seat next to her. “What happened?”
“She was literally like trying to bite us, I don’t know what-“
“Where’s Sirius?” Remus asked, “And Lily.”
“She got hurt.” Mary answered.
“Where?” He asked, causing looks of worry to go around, “How bad is it?”
“Just a small cut.”
“Did Emmeline bite her?” James asked.
Mary shook her head, “I think she went crazy, her temperature was too low but she said she was too hot and she tried to bite us when we covered her with the blanket.”
“Does she have rabies?” Barty asked.
Evan sighed, “Don’t be stupid.”
Regulus Black glanced over from where he sat away from the group before going back to his work.
“But Emmeline had a weird smell.” Mary added.
“What smell?” Bellatrix asked.
“The same as the science teacher.”
“A rotting corpse!”
“Yes, that.” Mary nodded.
Bellatrix was slapping Andromeda's arm, “Shouldn’t we be reporting this to the police or something?” She asked.
“I don’t know, McGonagall said she’d handle it.” Mary answered as Remus slowly started to leave the room. She turned to look at him and saw Regulus instead. “How can he be studying right now?”
“He’s number one in the school,” Andromeda said, “What else would he be doing.” Regulus glanced up upon hearing what they were saying, but ignored them anyway.
* * *
Emmeline was strapped into a stretcher and loaded onto the back of the ambulance, no longer thrashing around. “I think she went into shock due to hypothermia.” Pomfrey said, “I gave her a sedative."
The rescue officer nodded, “We’ll take her to the hospital. Did you contact her parents?”
“Yes, they're on their way to the hospital now. Please take good care of her.” McGonagall answered.
“Are you okay?” Harold asked Lily, a part of the rescue team that had answered the call. “Were you scared?”
“Obviously,” Lily said quietly, “Look at her.”
He sighed, “What’s wrong with your friend?”
“I don’t know. I’ll tell you more later when I get home.”
“I’m on call tonight, so I won’t be home until tomorrow morning, you can tell me then.” Harold said, finished with bandaging Lily’s arm where she got hurt. “Make sure not to get it wet. Call me immediately if anything happens. I’ll rush right over. Okay?”
“Okay.” Lily nodded.
“Good girl. Alright, bye.” He kissed Lily’s forehead before picking up his backpack and walking over to the ambulance where the teachers were. “Please take good care of her.” He said to McGonagall, “Given the situation, I can’t talk long.”
“Of course.” McGonagall nodded, putting her hand on Lily’s arm. “Nice to see you again.” He nodded at her and smiled at her and Sirius before getting on the ambulance and driving off. “Thank you for your help, you two. You go ahead inside, I’ll follow afterwards. Might be best not to tell anyone about this yet, yes?”
“Yes ma’am.” Lily and Sirius said together, walking back inside.
“Are you okay? Were you bit?” Sirius asked Lily, as they began climbing the stairs.
She shook her head, “Just a scratch.”
“Hey, uhh," Sirius hesitated, "You’re dating Remus, right?” Sirius asked.
Lily raised her eyebrows at him before nodding slightly, “Yeah, I am.” Sirius exhaled shortly before she shoved his shoulder, “Is that what you were expecting me to say? Are you crazy? If the world was ending and it was only me, Remus and a zombie left. I'd rather date the zombie.” She paused, narrowing his eyes at him, “Why are you asking?”
“No reason, let’s go.” Sirius said, secretly relieved. Just as Sirius finished his sentence Remus came rushing down the stairs.
“Lily!” He stopped in front of her. “I heard you got hurt. Where?” He picked up her arm and examined where her dad had just wrapped it.
“I’m fine, Remus. Relax.”
“How bad is it?” He asked her, “You’re always so clumsy.”
“It’s not bad at all.” She glanced at Sirius who was watching Remus intently. “I’m gonna go back to class.” She said, turning to walk up the stairs, hiding a small smile.
“Was she hurt badly? She was being careless again, wasn’t she?” Remus asked Sirius.
“No, she’s fine. She got hurt trying to avoid being bitten by Emmeline.” Sirius answered. “Why did you want to meet me after school?” Sirius asked Remus once Lily was out of earshot. “I might actually be busy then.”
Remus sighed and glanced around before reaching in his pocket and holding his fist out at Sirius.
“What is it?” Sirius asked.
Remus nudged his hand at Sirius’ arm and Sirius put his hand out. Remus opened his hand and dropped his name tag into his hand. “This means… you want to go out with me.”
“Yeah, I know that.” Remus rolled his eyes.
“So you really aren’t dating Lily.”
“What! Of course not!” Remus' eyes widened, “We’ve lived next door since we were kids, so we’re good friends but that's it.”
Sirius nodded. “Interesting.”
“Why would you even think that?” Remus muttered, walking off back to class. Sirius laughed lightly before following him. As soon as the two of them got back to class, the bell rang for break.
They made their way towards the hall, and Remus snagged a table with Lily and Mary, away from Sirius. Lily clapped her hands in front of Remus’ face. “Earth to Remus! You’ll burn a hole in Sirius' face if you keep staring at him.”
“Can’t bloody hide anything from you.” Remus said, rolling his eyes. “I just told him I like him.”
Mary and Lily looked at each other with wide eyes, “What.” Mary said quietly.
“I told Sirius I like him.”
“You’re- WHAT!” Mary exclaimed loudly, jumping up, causing the entire hall to go quiet. Sirius, James and Peter all glancing over, Lily bursting into laughter.
Remus hurried to pull Mary back into her seat as Mary slapped his arm repeatedly. “Are you insane?” She asked. “Sirius??”
“Quiet.” Remus said.
“What did you say? How did you do it?”
“I gave him my name tag.”
Mary hid a laugh behind her hand, “So you really just threw yourself at him.”
Remus nodded slowly.
“So?”
“That’s it.”
“What?” Lily asked. “What do you mean that’s it? He didn’t give you an answer?”
“He told me he thought you and I were dating and I got annoyed so I walked off.” Remus buried his face into his hands, “What is wrong with me?”
Mary snickered as Lily sighed frustratedly, “This happens every time, why would anyone think that?” Mary deadpanned and Lily slapped her arm.
“Wait, so did he like, give off a vibe or anything?” Mary asked. Remus shook his head. “Did it seem like he was interested?” Remus shrugged. Lily and Mary both sighed.
* * *
James ran up behind Regulus and stopped nervously, before wiping his hands on his pants and tapping Regulus on the shoulder. He was walking while reading his textbook. He came to a stop and looked up at James.
“It’s bad for your ears to wear them too long.” James mouthed.
Regulus took one earphone out of his ear and raised an eyebrow at him.
“Earphones. They’re bad for your ears.” James said.
“I know.” Regulus said, he put it back in and took another step before James tapped his shoulder again. He looked at him again and James signalled for him to take them out. Regulus hesitantly taking them off.
“Do you wanna visit Emmeline after school?” James asked.
“Why?”
“You’re the classroom president.”
“My mother made me classroom president by donating to the school.” Regulus said boredly, “That’s why no one considers me the classroom president. Why should I act like it?”
James grinned at him.
“What?”
“I’m just amazed.” James said, “I’ve never heard you talk this much before. I thought you were incapable of saying more than five words.”
Regulus smiled slightly at him before returning to his usual expressionless face. He turned and put his earphone back in, returning to his book and walking away. James smacked his forehead behind him.
As Regulus was walking away, screaming came from the corridor he was about to walk down, people running out of it. One person was attacking someone else, biting and growling at them. James ran after Regulus and grabbed his arm, causing him to drop his book as they ran from someone else chasing after them, bloody around the mouth.
* * *
“I have a good idea,” Lily said, in line to put away their trays with lunch about to end, “Ask Peter.”
“Forget it.” Remus muttered.
“They're close!” Lily continued.
“No.”
“Remus, listen to me, Sirius might’ve already told them.”
“Still, I can’t tell him. He’d tease me like crazy.”
“Who’d tease you like crazy?” Peter asked, coming over. “Help me put mine away, Remus? The line is so long.” Remus nodded and he put his tray on top of Remus’, smiling.
Peter turned to walk away and Lily grabbed his arm, “Wait Peter, Remus needs to talk to you.” Remus deadpanned Lily, “You and Sirius are close, right?”
“Obviously, why?”
“See?” Lily said, smirking at Remus.
“What is it?” Peter asked Remus.
“Nothing. Go away.” Remus said, glaring at Lily.
“Well, Remus here-“
“Hey!” Remus interrupted, “Do you want to die?” He mouthed at Lily.
“Fine.” Lily rolled her eyes, “You know, a real friend would help in situations like this.” She turned around and walked forward in the line.
“What is it?” Peter asked Remus again. Remus stared at him before also moving forward in the line. “What’s wrong?” Peter asked again after Remus had put the trays away. “Did Sirius say something?”
“No.” Remus said, ignoring Peter, walking straight ahead.
“Did you two fight?” Peter asked, following after Remus.
“I said no.”
“Then what? Did he say he likes you?” Peter joked, walking beside Remus.
Remus stopped and looked at Peter, “Did he say that?”
“What?”
“Did he say he likes me?”
“Sirius?”
Remus sighed, “So he didn’t say anything?”
“What are you talking about?” Peter asked, extremely confused.
“Earlier...” Remus hesitated.
“What.”
Remus exhaled deeply, “I told him that I like him, but I don’t know how he feels. He didn’t say anything.” Remus said in one quick breath. Peter snorted a little and mumbled quiet apologies when Remus glared at him. “Do you think you could ask him?”
“See I would Remus, but we’re not that close.” He shrugged.
Remus rolled his eyes, “Yes, you are.” The doors to the hall were loudly thrown open and both Remus and Peter turned their heads at the sound.
People were streaming in through the doors, toppling over one, causing piles of people to block the entry. The other doors were locked and everyone outside was desperately trying to get into the hall, banging on the doors, eventually the glass doors shattered under the weight of everyone and chaos broke out inside the hall.
Everyone inside was screaming and running in all directions, both Remus and Peter were knocked off their feet and Sirius came running over to help them up. Once Sirius let go of Remus making sure he was stable on his feet, they watched as one person chased another, their face covered in blood, biting and attacking anyone in their way.
They spotted Lily on the floor, another person with blood all over their face on top of them.